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Article: The Ethical Uncertainty of Prima Levi.
- Article from:
- Judaism
- Article date:
- January 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 American Jewish Congress. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PRIMO LEVI IS TOO EASILY THOUGHT OF MERELY AS THE dispassionate, "scientific investigator" who writes about his time in Auschwitz, in the various phrases of Cynthia Ozick, with "lucid calm" or "magisterial equanimity" or "unaroused detachment." [1] I want, however, to challenge this prevailing view of Levi's acclaimed self-possession. My argument is that the power and importance of Levi's memoirs should not merely be located in the sureness and balance of his narrative voice. Ozick, in her provocative essay on Levi, goes on to contrast Levi's humane restraint with what she regards as his suppressed "rage of resentment." She locates this "rage" primarily in Levi's ...